Ohana
by Luray123
Summary: Ohana means family. But family they are not...will Lloyd, Colete, Raine, Genis, Presea, Sheena, Zelos, Kratos, and Regal be able to live with each other for one whole year? Highly unlikely...told from different POV's!
1. Raine: How It All Started

**Chapter One**

Disclaimer: Namco owns Tales of Symphonia. Not me. In case you couldn't figure that out already.

This was a really weird idea that I got one day…and each chapter switches between the POVs of the characters. I think it's pretty obvious who it is in each chapter. And also, the italics are a flashback. So…remember to review when you're finished, and enjoy!

**&&Raine&&**

Well…here we are.

Just an average American family in an average American home.

Erm—not.

For one thing, "American…" now that's a strange word to us. We've only been "American" for a couple days now. Technically, we're not even official citizens.

And we probably won't ever be.

I can tell you're confused. Let's start with a bit of "family history."

First off: we're not even a family. Well, most of us, anyways. There's me, my brother Genis, Lloyd, Colette, Sheena, Zelos (who I'm pretty sure is an alien), Presea, and of course, Regal.

Oh yeah, and my husband.

Oh man, now you're all freaking out on me. Yes, I got married. Kratos and I have been a couple for about three months now. At first, everyone went crazy, but gradually, they've calmed down. Very gradually. Most especially Genis, which is understandable, since he's only twelve and his sister is already married. I try to imagine how weird that would be…it freaks me out.

Anyways…back to how we all ended up as Americans.

It's all Colette's fault. Or so I like to think.

&&&

"_Would you like to choose a challenge from the magic bowl?" _

_The stereotype-looking mysterious figure draped in a black cloak extended his arm to the party. Clutched in his hand was an old, cracked clay bowl filled with little slips of paper. _

"_100 Gald a pick," he continued, "So…how about it?" Sheena rolled her eyes, muttering "As if! Stupid beggar, why I oughtta--"_

"—_Sure!" everyone's favorite 14-year-old flaxen-haired Chosen shoved her way to the front, dropping 100 Gald in the man's outstretched palm and reaching inside the bowl._

"_Uh, Colette…I'm not sure that's such a good idea…"Raine cut in nervously. Colette settled on a piece of paper and drew it out, unfolding it in a frenzy._

"_Its says," she cleared her throat, her eyes alight with excitement, "How about a taste of the…American life?" She stopped, confused, as the others crowded around her._

"_Read on," the cloaked figure encouraged her._

"_This challenge will send you and all your friends to another new, exciting world full of modern wonder."_

"_Magitechnology?" Raine asked eagerly._

"_Experience the ways of American life, living as a normal family in a normal house for one year," Colette sounded uncertain, "Can you do it? Why not give it a try?" She finished reading and looked at the man expectantly._

"_Well," she said, "What does that mean?"_

"_It means…you and your friends have the chance of a lifetime!" the old man flung his arms out, trying to excite Colette again, "So, who will you bring?"_

"_They're all my friends!" Colette copied the man's gesture, indicating everyone clustered around her, who immediately backed away._

"_Colette…" Lloyd started doubtfully._

"_All right! Everyone it is, then!" the figure pulled out a large staff, which began to glow with a blinding light._

"_Colette!" Sheena screamed, "What the heck did you do _this _time?"_

_"What?" Colette was definently excited again, "We're going on an adventure!" Several of them groaned loudly._

_"Have fun!" the figure started laughing like a maniac as the light exploded, followed immediately by darkness._

_Groggily, Sheena forced her eyes open. She was lying on her stomach, with her face pressed against some sort of concrete._

_What was that? She wondered to herself, Did I just like, black out? Now where are we? Oh boy, I am gonna kill Colette…we better still be in our own world or she's going down…she should know better than to talk to dangerous-looking people in black cloaks…_

_As she regained consciousness, she became aware of something heavy plopped on top of her. She squeezed her eyes shut and shifted ever so slightly, trying to move the weight. As she opened them again, a lock of fiery red hair dangled in front of her face._

_Wait a minute…that better not be…_

_A quick glance over her shoulder proved her suspicions correct._

_"ZELOS!" Sheena sprang up with amazing force, throwing the seemingly unconscious man onto the ground beside her, "YOU LITTLE PERVERT! JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?"_

_Slowly, laboriously, Zelos opened his eyes and sat up, rubbing his head._

_"Huh?" he asked blearily, "Sorry hunny, didn't catch that."_

_"DON'T YOU 'SORRY HUNNY' ME!" Sheena bellowed, "I KNOW WHAT YOU WERE UP TO!"_

_"Okay then," Zelos seemed amused, "What was I up to?"_

_"You—you—"Sheena couldn't bring herself to finish her accusation._

_"Um, I hate to interrupt," a couple feet from Zelos, Lloyd had just awoken, "But where are we?"_

_Zelos and Sheena took on blank looks, as though they had just realized that they were not in the cities of their own world anymore._

_"That was helpful," Lloyd muttered to himself, turning to Genis next to him and banging on the head, "Genis! Wake up!"_

_"What?" Genis sat up, rubbing his eyes._

_"Where are we?" Lloyd demanded impatiently, "Since Romeo and Juliet over here don't seem to have a clue." Sheena began to open her mouth, looking peeved, but seemed to think the better of it._

_Genis, unlike the other three, had the intelligence to take a quick look around. Everyone else was sprawled over what seemed to be a very short road leading to one of the strangest looking houses he had ever seen._

_"Uh…"_

_"Don't tell me you don't know either!" Lloyd jumped up and headed over to the house._

_"I'm gonna see if anyone's in here!" he called, "Hopefully they know where they live!"_

_He banged on the door once…twice…three times._

_"Come on!" Lloyd moaned, kicking the door._

_He kicked it for several minutes._

_"Um, Lloyd?" Genis interrupted, "I don't think there's anyone in there."_

_"You know, you're right," Lloyd turned and headed back down, "Let's wake up everyone else and see what they think."_

_Genis grinned evilly. Time to get revenge on his sister!_

_"Oh, Raine!" he called in a singsong voice, kicking her roughly in the head. She moaned and slowly sat up._

_"Are you awake yet? I don't think so!" Genis started whacking her in the head (much like she always did to him)._

_"Genis!" his sister delivered him the usual sharp smack upside the head, "I am awake, thank you very much!"_

_"Just checking…" Genis grumbled, sitting down again, looking dejected. Presea popped up beside him, very much awake._

_"Hello Genis," she stated simply as Genis flushed a deep red, "Where are we?"_

_"Good question," Raine spoke before Genis could open his mouth, "Why don't we ask her?"_

_Everyone conscious looked in the direction that Raine was pointing. A girl about Colette's age was ambling by on a bicycle, looking curiously at them._

_"Well, we all know who the expert with girls is," Sheena remarked dryly as a grinning Zelos dusted himself off and strolled over to her. She slowly drew the bicycle to a halt._

_"Say, you're looking quite pretty today," Zelos gave her his best grin as she giggled madly, "Would you mind telling me…where exactly we might be?"_

_She stopped suddenly, her hands still over her mouth, and stared at him with wide eyes._

_"What?"_

_"Like, you mean, what state or what?" she asked slowly, seeming afraid._

_"Like…just….where," Zelos was a bit confused._

_"You're in America, silly!" the girl chided, "Maryland! So"…she looked over his shoulder, "Are they your family? Is that your new house?"_

_Zelos stared at her with wide eyes._

_"…What?" the girl asked nervously, "What did I say?"_

_"What's…America?" Zelos turned to his friends behind him, who shrugged._

_"Wait," Genis cut in, "That's what it said on that stupid card Colette picked out! Remember? 'A taste of the American life…'"_

_The girl, who was by now pretty freaked out, slowly pedaled away. Apparently all those strangely dressed people had a bad case of amnesia or something…they definently weren't right in the head._

_"But what the heck is America?" Lloyd bellowed in frustration._

_"It must be another world," Raine mused. She turned to Kratos beside her and shook him awake with surprising gentleness._

_"Would someone like the honor of waking up Colette and Regal?" Sheena asked casually. Lloyd sucked in his breath and held up a finger, indicating to "wait a second."_

_"What is he doing?" Presea scoffed as he began to turn red._

_"Oh no…" Genis looked a bit scared, "I remember when he used to do this when we were younger…he's gonna scream really—"_

_"WAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKKEEEEEEEEE UUUUUUUPPPPPPPPPPP!" Regal and Colette immediately sat up, looking irritated, as everyone else sat, stunned._

_"What was that for?" Regal barked as Colette gasped and gushed, "Wow, we're in some kind of other world, aren't we? This must be what that cool dude was talking about!_

_"Since when does Colette use the words 'cool dude?'" Kratos muttered in Raine's ear._

_"Let's go see the people in that awesome house!" Colette rushed down the driveway towards the door._

_"Uh, Colette? I already tried…" Lloyd began, but was cut off as Colette held up a bright red sheet of paper with the words "If you don't know where you are, read this" printed on it in bold letters._

_"Look at this!" she called, "It was on the door!"_

_"Wow, Lloyd," Genis remarked, "You managed to miss the big red sign hanging right in front of your face!"_

_"Shut up, Genis," Lloyd snapped as they all traipsed up behind Colette. She took a deep breath and began to read out loud:_

_"If you are reading this, you have found your way to Earth. Right now, you are in the country of America. This behind you is your house. For your challenge, here are the rules you must follow:_

_You are a family. Stick to that alibi._

_The kids are required to go to school. The ages and grades are as follows:_

_Ages 12/13- Seventh grade_

_Ages 14/15- Ninth grade_

_Ages 17/18- Twelfth grade_

_Adults should get a job._

_You will remain in this household for exactly one (1) year until your challenge is completed._

_Have fun!"_

_There was a stunned silence._

_"Well," Raine sighed, "This is going to be interesting."_

_ &&&  
_

And how right I was…


	2. Presea: First Day in the Seventh Grade

**Chapter Two**

Disclaimer: If I owned Tales of Symphonia, it would be a V-E-R-Y scary game. Trust me.

I finally got around to writing the next chapter! I'm happy that you guys liked it! And oh yeah, I made a mistake in the last chapter. Colette is not actually 14. She's 16. I knew that. I was just…testing the reviewers…yeah, that's it….so, without further ado!

**&&Presea&&**

"Guys! Wake up! As in NOW!"

Someone was banging on a frying pan. At least, that's what it sounded like. And they woke me up.

"Come ON!"

I identified the voice as Sheena's. Slowly, I sat up, tossing back the covers of my bed, wiping sleep out of my eyes. The bedroom in this strange new house of ours was dark. In the bed across the room, I spotted the dark shape of Colette rising as well.

"Good morning, Sheena!" Colette's cheery voice rang through our bedroom, "What are we doing today? It's our first day here, you know! We should do something fun!"

"You guys are going to school," Sheena appeared in the doorway, holding, indeed, a frying pan, "And—"

"—And I, the great Zelos, am going to a job interview," Zelos appeared in the hallway behind Sheena. She jumped and whipped around.

"What the…?" she spat, "How can you get a job? Raine said we needed papers! And who would hire _you_, anyways!"

"Observe," Zelos waved some papers in her face, "My legal papers. Or should I say…my _forged _legal papers. And I'm sure lots of people would hire me."

"You forged papers?" Sheena exclaimed, "How stupid can you get?"

"It will work," Zelos assured her, "Now goodbye, my hunnies! Wish me luck! As if I need it…"

He disappeared from view to the slamming of a door. Sheena sighed in exasperation.

"Anyways…" she looked at Colette and me again, "Get up and get dressed."

"Do we get to go to school?" Colette asked.

"Yes…" Sheena began to leave, "And your bus is coming in half an hour!"

"What's a…bus?"

"Don't ask questions!" Sheena snapped.

"Wait a minute," I finally decided to speak, something having just occurred to me, "Why must I go to school?"

Sheena paused.

"Sorry, Presea," she said, "But in the eyes of the law, you are a twelve-year-old…"

"But…" I started.

"But you've already wasted 10 minutes!" Sheena pointed at the clock, which read 6:15, "Just live through the day, okay? Okay!" She stomped out of the room, banging on the frying pan again.

"This is going to be so much fun!" Colette squealed, skipping over to the dresser, "We get to go to school in a whole new world!"

"Wahoo," I muttered. It had become a habit.

"Wahoo! Wahoo! Loodle-do!" Colette started dancing around the room, singing Klonoan words in a tuneless song. I began rummaging through our dresser. Obviously, I was going to wear what I always wore, but Colette had buried it in pile after pile of fluffy who-knows-whats.

Behind me, there was a loud thump.

"Are you okay, Colette?" I asked, not even looking up.

"Yep, I'm fine! Hehe…I just slipped…"

"I know," I answered.

A few minutes later, I made my way down the hallway in my everyday outfit. Raine was in the kitchen, sitting at the table and reading a book.

"Good morning, Professor," I greeted her, helping myself to pieces of toast sitting out on the counter.

"Good morning, Pres…oh. Are you really going to wear that to school?" I noticed Raine giving me a strange look.

"What's wrong with it? I wear it everyday," I took a bite of the toast. Ugh…obviously the Professor was the only one to grace the kitchen this morning. Must…swallow…

"Well, it's just that…according to my research, it's a bit of a strange thing to wear to an American school—"

"—What are you talking about, Professor? Presea's outfit is cool!" I jumped as a blur of red careened into the kitchen, narrowly missing plates on the wall, and skidded to stop in front of the food.

"That may be so, Lloyd," Raine closed her eyes impatiently, "But it's not typical of an American child. And don't even _think _about wearing _that _to a high school."

"Why not?" Lloyd managed to say before he started choking on his toast as well.

"Because you look…odd," Raine sighed in exasperation and picked up her book again, "For America."

"But—"

"—GO GET CHANGED!" the Professor bellowed, leaping up from the table with her book held high over her head. I raced out of the kitchen with Lloyd at my heels.

"That was close," Lloyd exhaled, leaning against the wall of the living room.

"Yes," I agreed, "Uh…Lloyd? Do we…have any other clothes?"

Lloyd froze.

"Well…" he began, making that pained face where he closes one eye, "You have your mascot outfit, and I have my pirate suit…and our formal clothes and bathing suits, but other than that…"

"What should we do?" I asked.

"I dunno," he answered. Figures. "Uh…let's just go to school in these clothes anyway. How bad can it be?"

"I wonder…" I mused.

"I don't!" Lloyd skipped happily back into the kitchen. His voice soon mingled with those of Colette, Genis, and the Professor. I sank onto the couch, feeling tired and dismayed. Why did I have to go to school? Back in Ozette, all I was at school was an outcast. Maybe here would be different. Here, no one knew of the research conducted on me…

Lloyd came barging back into the living room, with a bookbag slung over one shoulder, leading an equally happy Colette and an annoyed looking Genis.

"Here you go, Presea!" a grinning Colette threw a pink bookbag on me. It was fairly heavy, but nothing I couldn't handle. Raine came hurrying out of the kitchen.

"Now, what you do is you turn left out of the driveway until you reach a bench," she spoke hurriedly, "And you wait there until a big yellow vehicle with the number 617 on it comes. Genis and Presea get on that bus. Colette and Lloyd, your bus will say 543. Now when you get to school, go straight to the offices and tell them that you're new. I've put all your stuff in your book bags so you should be okay—"

"—Okay, Raine," Genis interrupted, "We'll be fine. Well, me and Presea at least…" He gave Lloyd and Colette, who were square dancing at the moment, an uneasy glance.

"I hope you will," Raine muttered, "What with those clothes and all. And try not to stand out too much, okay?"

"Will the teacher make me stand in the back with buckets of water and throw erasers at me?" Lloyd asked as she shoved us out the door and slammed it in our faces. We stood there uselessly.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Colette clapped her hands, "Come on!" She raced down the driveway with Lloyd at her heels. Genis stared at his feet.

"Let's go, Genis," I said to him, stepping forward, brushing my hand against his. He jumped and started walking.

"I'm afraid for them," he muttered.

"For who?" I asked. Genis inclined his head in the direction of Lloyd and Colette, who were now chasing squirrels.

"You're not afraid for us?" I gave him a sideways glance.

"Well…uh…" he was looking at the ground again, "I'll protect you, Presea!"

"Thank you, Genis," I allowed myself to say. Why he kept saying that was a mystery to me, but it seemed polite to thank him, though I had no need of his protection, really.

When the bus 617 finally came, an old lady in the driver's seat gave us a long look when Genis and I climbed on.

"Where are you from?" she asked.

"Uh…" Genis cast about for an answer, looking frantically at me.

"Not here," I supplied. The old lady grunted.

"I'll say," she muttered, "Sit in seat 10." She jerked her elbow towards a seat a few rows down. This was very strange. Why were we being taken to school in a giant machine with lots of seats? If it was just us, why so many?

Several minutes later, I was proved wrong. Apparently, lots of kids came to school this way. Lots of noisy kids, filling up every seat on the thing. Lots more kids than in the school at Ozette. Everyone was giving us odd looks.

"Why is your hair white?" the kid in front of us turned around and peered curiously over the seat at Genis.

"Because I'm an elf," he replied evenly, which seemed like a reasonable answer to me. The kid, however, started cracking up.

"Hey, Ryan," he nudged the boy next to him, "This kid here says he's an elf!"

"What's wrong with that?" I demanded. Both boys were looking at us now.

"What's wrong with that?" the kid repeated, "Elves don't exist, you idiot! God, everyone knows that! How stupid are you, anyway?"

Genis and I exchanged looks. Elves didn't exist? Raine hadn't told us about that…

"And why is your hair pink?" the kid turned on me now.

"It's natural," I replied. Did pink hair not exist in this world either?

"Wait…you mean you were born with it like that?" his eyes widened.

"Yes," I answered, "Is there something wrong with that?"

"No, of course not…" the kids were smirking at each other. Genis was giving them a death glare.

"Hey! Stay away from Presea!" he growled menacingly.

"Genis…" I began.

"Genis?" the kid asked, "Your name is Genis?"

Genis didn't say anything. He looked out the window instead.

"Genis, hmm," the kid had a thoughtful look on his face, "Sounds like…"

&&

Ugh…I'm so mean. Poor Genis. Ah well, that's seventh-grade boys for you. Anyways, please review! Reviews make me happy! (Not to mention they give me ideas…) Until next time!


	3. Lloyd: The Wheels on the Bus

**Chapter Three**

Disclaimer: See Chapter Two. (I'm so lazy XD…)

I decided to do the next chapter from Lloyd's POV, because I like to skip around and confuse you, and because, well…why not? Lloyd's cool! (If not a bit mentally challenged…) And don't worry; I haven't completely forgotten about Regal, however it may seem; I already have an idea for him in mind, hehehe…

**&&Lloyd&&**

"Lloyd Irving, wake up!"

Holy Martel! I did _not _just hear that! Major déjà vu! Wait a minute…had everything that had happened since that day in class just been a dream, and was I still in Iselia, standing at the back of the classroom holding buckets of water! NOOOO-

"Mr. Irving! Wake up this instant and tell the class how to solve this equation using the quadratic formula!"

Huh? What was the quadratic formula? And that didn't sound like Raine…I opened my eyes slowly. Well, I wasn't standing at the back of a room, or holding buckets of water. My head was on a desk. On the desk was an open book…like a textbook. So I wasn't in Iselia…but where was I?

"Where am I?" I asked blearily. Lots of kids were turned around in their seats, staring at me. Right in front of me was a girl with a pink shirt worse than Sheena's, long straight hair, and a ton of makeup on. A couple desks over, I spotted a familiar face…

"Colette!" I exclaimed, sitting up, "You're here!"

She giggled.

"Of course I'm here, Lloyd," she said, "We're at school, remember?"

"We are…?" Man, I was really confused now. Raine was our teacher, not this lady! And who were all these other people?

"Are you ready to answer the question yet, Mr. Irving?" the lady at the front of the room had really ugly glasses, wrinkled skin, and black hair. She looked nothing like anyone I had ever seen teaching a school in Sylvarant.

"Who are you and what have you done with Professor Raine!" I demanded, leaping up from my desk. The whole class started laughing their heads off.

"What's so funny?" I asked, a bit thrown off.

"Lloyd!" Colette called to me, "We're not in Iselia anymore, _remember…_?"

I stopped for a second, and then…I remembered! The mysterious figure in the black cloak, our weird new house, Raine's disgusting toast, some place called high school…yeah, that's right. I was in something called eighth period right now. I was kinda confused…I had slept through pretty much every class.

"Never mind," I said to the teacher, sitting down. Colette gave me a thumbs up and grinned. The teacher looked very ticked off, while the class was still tittering.

"Quiet," she ordered, and the students fell silent, "I'll just ask someone else who was actually paying attention…"

Colette waved her hand wildly in the air.

"Ooh! Ooh, Professor, pick me!" she cried, but the teacher ignored her and chose a kid in the front row. I tried to stay awake as he talked, but man it was hard…I rested my head on my book again, feeling sleepy.

"Omigod, are you going to sleep _again?_" the pink-shirted girl in front of me whispered. I lifted my head up, stifling a yawn.

"Yeah," I answered, putting my head back down. She giggled and started whispering with the other kids. I tried to block out the sound with my sleeve, but then…

"What's that on your hand?" the girl behind me asked.

"What, you mean my Exsphere?" I held it up for her see. She nodded, but still looked confused.

"You guys don't have Exspheres?" I asked in disbelief. Wow, these guys were really lucky! No Exspheres to screw up their lives…

"No…" she was eyeing it suspiciously, like it would eat her or something.

"It's not dangerous, see?" I pulled it off its Key Crest and held it up for her to see. She reached out to take it, but I jerked it back.

"You can't have it," I snapped, "Um…I mean…it's my mom's…never mind." She just wouldn't get it.

"Can't I just hold it?" she pleaded.

"Nope," I turned around and went back to sleep.

&&

"Lloyd! Lloyd, wake up!"

"Huh?"

"Class is over! Come on, we can go home now!" This time, Colette was shaking my shoulder. I looked around the classroom; it was empty for once. Colette heaved me out of my seat and dragged me towards the door.

"Come on, Lloyd!" she insisted, "We don't want to miss our bus! Um …What number was it again?"

"Uh…345 or something like that…" I was tired, man. I was in no mood to remember our stupid bus number.

"345…yeah, that sounds about right," she answered, "And what were our locker numbers? And our combinations?"

"…No clue," I figured hey, it wasn't that important.

"Lloyd! That's important!"

"Then why didn't you remember it?"

"I told you to!" Colette looked really upset now, "I told you to write it on your hand!"

"Colette…I'm wearing gloves." I love my gloves. They're so awesome. Why would I deface them with some dumb numbers?

"Oh no! Now we can't bring home our books!"

"No homework, then."

"LLOYD!"

"Is there a problem, children?" we both looked up to see a big guy in a suit-looking thing standing next to us in the hallway.

"Yes, we—" Colette began.

"—Are going home right now," I finished, leading Colette in the opposite direction down the hallway. I didn't want any homework! Not being able to open my locker was the perfect excuse!

"…Huh?" Colette caught up to me in confusion, "Why did you say that?"

"We're going to miss our bus," The one thing Colette and I didn't agree on was whether or not we should do our homework.

"…Oh. Well, we wouldn't want that!"

All the kids in the hallway were giving us strange looks. They kept laughing at us. They looked pretty weird, too. I don't know what was so funny. But whatever…we followed the crowd out the doors and saw…a lot of big yellow buses.

"Um…"

"Maybe our number doesn't matter," Colette suggested, "Maybe we just get on whatever bus we want to and it takes us where we ask the driver to go."

Hmm. That sounded okay to me.

"Sure," I agreed as she grinned happily, "Let's get on…"

"That one!" Colette pointed at some beat-up looking thing. She raced towards it, and I followed at her heels.

When we climbed on, the driver demanded to know who we were.

"I'm Colette and this is Lloyd," Colette introduced us with a cheery smile.

"Where do you kids live?" the lady demanded grouchily.

"Um…" Colette looked at me as if to say _Where DO we live?_ I shrugged.

"We know our stop," I suggested.

"Whatever, just hurry up and sit down."

"Let's sit in the back!" Colette whispered to me. I followed her lead and we took the two back seats. They were shorter than all the other ones, which was pretty cool. We bounced up and down, enjoying the softness of the seats.

"Um…what are you doing?" I heard a voice say. Looking forward, I saw a girl who looked maybe a little older than Genis with wavy brown hair giving us a raised eyebrow look.

"These seats!" I explained, "We like them!"

"I'm not even gonna ask," she sighed, turning around, but a split second later her big brown eyes were peering over the seat again.

"Wait…are you those new kids everyone's talking about?"

"Um…I guess so," I answered slowly.

"Are you some kind of…crazy cosplayer or something?" she asked me, narrowing her eyes.

"What's a cosplayer?" I questioned in confusion.

"Y'know…someone who dresses up like people from anime or video games or whatever," she said in an annoyed tone, "Because you look exactly like Lloyd from Tales of Symphonia."

"Hey! How did you know my name?" I demanded. I hate giving people my name; especially people I don't like.

"…You really _are _crazy," she sighed, facing forwards again.

Was that creepy or what? How did that girl know my name? I looked at Colette, but she was too busy sticking her head out the window.

"Hey Lloyd!" she called, "This is fun! You should try it!"

"Keep your heads inside!" the driver bellowed from the front as we started moving. Colette reluctantly pulled her head back in.

The rest of the way, the girl in front of me kept talking to me.

"My friend's not here, so I'm bored," she explained. She kept asking me how I made such a good costume, and how I got my hair like that. I told her it was natural, but she kept pestering me. Finally, she got off.

"Lloyd…" Colette said, "We're the only ones left on the bus."

I looked around, and saw that she was right! All the seats were empty!

"Let's hide," Colette giggled, ducking down behind the seat and pulling her feet up, "So we can surprise the bus driver when we get to our stop."

I ducked down behind my seat, too.

"…Where's our stop?" I wondered out loud.

A few minutes later, the bus slowed to a stop again. All I could see from my hiding place was a bunch of gray and brown buildings. This didn't look like our stop…

I peeked over the edge of the seat. The bus driver was gone!

"Colette!" I said urgently, "The driver left!" We jumped up and raced off the empty bus. The driver was nowhere in sight. Instead, there was a bunch of dirty-looking streets, more car-things like the bus, and, directly in front of us, a large brown building with a rusty sign reading, "Wanda's Bar."

"Where are we?" Colette's voice said beside me.

"…I don't know," I answered, pointing to the bar, "Let's go in there and ask for help."

&&

Oh dear…this is not looking good. Next chapter, we'll find out what happened to Genis and Presea, as well as catch up on stuff back at the house! I'd love to hear from you. Until next time!


	4. Sheena: Name Change

**Chapter Four**

Disclaimer: Be happy that I don't own Tales of Symphonia.

Just a little note before I begin…Homocidal-Snowbunnies left me a review pointing out that "Ohana" does not mean family in Japanese, however, I'm not using Japanese here. In Hawaiian culture, Ohana means family, with emphasis on how the family is bound together, and have to cooperate and remember each other. I thought that seemed appropriate, given the story. Thanks for the nifty Japanese knowledge, though!

Again, sorry for my extremely slow updating habits. I love to write, but it's a very slow process. Ahem.

**&&Sheena&&**

After everyone left for school—and Zelos left for a job interview, ugh—I wandered around the house, examining all the weird gadgets. The Professor had found a book called "The Complete Guide to the American House for Foreigners." It had all these pictures, with names of the objects underneath. Of course, we already knew most of them, but some stuff—like a 'computer'—I wasn't even going to touch. Who knew what it did?

Anyway, at the moment, the clock read 2:10, and I was lying on the couch, being bored.

"Sheena," Raine said sternly, coming into the living room, "Shouldn't you be out somewhere, getting a job?"

"Uh…why?" I asked, "If Zelos gets a job—"

"—Then so should you." She sat down at the computer thingy and looked it over.

"But what about Regal? And Kratos?" I protested, sounding like a three-year-old.

"For your information, Regal has just left to be interviewed at some restaurant near here," she informed me, pressing a button on the computer. The screen lit up with the world "DELL", whatever that was.

"And," she continued, looking curiously at the screen, "Kratos and I are staying home to take care of the house."

"You just want him all to yourself," I teased.

"Possibly," Raine smirked at me, "Hey…come over here and look at this." She motioned towards the computer. Yawning, I rolled off the couch and plodded over to stand behind her. On the screen were the words, "Welcome. Set up accounts? Yes or No."

"Uh…" I said. Raine clicked "Yes." Instantly, a little box appeared onscreen, reading, "Thank you for choosing Dell. To continue the setup of your accounts, please fill in the names of your family members in the spaces below. Dell supports a total of 6 accounts. In the case that your family has more than 6 members, it will be necessary to share accounts. After you are finished, please click Next." Then there were 6 blank lines, and a button reading "Next."

"Uh…" I said again.

"Only six…" Raine muttered, "Well, there are nine of us. Kratos and I can share one…" She looked around, and spotted a square thingy with letters all over it.

"Hmmm…" Raine pulled it towards her and pecked the letters "K-r-a-t-o-s." And what do you know? Kratos' name appeared on the screen!

"Weird!" I said, reaching over. Raine swatted my hand away and resumed her study of the keyboard. After a couple minutes, she had "Kratos and Raine" on the first line.

"Lloyd and Colette share," I said. No way was I sharing with either of them. Raine nodded and added their names to the next line.

"Regal should get his own," she mused, typing in "Regal" on line three, "And you can share with…"

"No way!" I protested, knowing where this was going, "Who _knows _what kind of things we can do on these accounts? I am NOT sharing with Zelos!"

"Fine, fine," she said, "You get your own." I cheered silently as she typed in "Sheena" on line four and "Zelos" on line five.

"Which leaves Genis and Presea," I grinned.

"Yes…" Raine put in "Genis and Presea" on the final line and clicked "Next." The computer made this weird ringing noise, and a message appeared saying, "Thank you. The setup of your accounts has been completed. You may now login and assign administrator privileges."

On the screen, 6 blank boxes appeared, with the names of the accounts next to them. Raine clicked on hers and Kratos' and a whole new screen opened up.

"Look at all this!" Raine said excitedly, "All the possibilities...I SIMPLY MUST STUDY IT!"

"I'll be in the kitchen," I told her, high-tailing it out of there.

In the kitchen, I found Kratos sitting at a table.

"Raine found a new research subject," I told him. He smiled indulgently and put his hand over his face, like he used to do way back when.

I think he was going to ask me a question, but just then, there was a really loud ringing sound. We looked at each other in confusion.

"What is that?" I asked as he stood up and looked around the kitchen. Then, I saw this thing sitting on the counter…that was shaking. I raced over to it, and sure enough the sound got louder.

"Kratos!" I called. He ran over, looking like he was on the verge of drawing his sword and smashing it to bits.

"What does it do?" I asked.

"Pick it up!" Kratos ordered warily.

I reached out and plucked up the part that was shaped like a banana. Instantly, the ringing stopped.

"Whew," I sighed, "Glad that's over."

"But…what does it do?" Kratos asked, taking it from me. He examined it closely, then held it up to his ear. His eyes widened.

"What?" I asked.

"It's…talking," he said weakly, "It sounds like…Lloyd?"

I leaned my ear close to the thing, and sure enough, I heard Lloyd's voice.

"Dad?" it was saying, "Uh…Colette and I are, uh…in this weird place…"

"With lots of happy people!" I heard Colette's voice chime in.

"Why aren't you at school?" Kratos demanded.

"Well, we were…" Lloyd answered, "But then the bus took us here…" In the background I heard lots of banging and a bunch of guys laughing. "Hey! Stay away from Colette!" Lloyd bellowed, "Uh…anyway…Colette had written this number on her hand, and this guy told us if we put some money in this thing and typed it in we could talk to you…and it worked! Hey…hey! Get off her!"

"Where are you?" Kratos asked, sounding worried, for once.

"Some place called Wanda's Bar…." Lloyd said.

"WHAT?" I nearly jumped out of my skin as Kratos screamed into the phone. Raine came tearing into the kitchen, as if she was expecting the house to be burning down or something.

"Whoa!" Lloyd's voice said, "You actually screamed!"

"Lloyd…don't move…" Kratos growled, "Stay right there…" He handed the thing to me and raced out of the kitchen. A very bewildered Raine tailed after him, which left me to entertain Lloyd.

"Uh…Lloyd?" I said unsurely.

"Sheena?" he asked, "Hi! Where'd Kratos go? I hope we didn't make him too mad…" There was the sound of breaking glass, "For the last time! Don't touch her! I said—"

There was sudden silence.

"Lloyd?" I said, "Lloyd?" But he didn't answer. I placed the thing back onto its stand. I had no idea what had happened. But at least I didn't have to talk to him anymore. Lloyd and Colette had gone to school and wound up at a bar…I shook my head, just as Kratos rushed back into the kitchen.

"I'm going out," he informed me, "Who knows what will happen to them if they stay there…"

"Kratos? What is going on?" Raine appeared in the kitchen, but Kratos was already out the door. She looked at me.

"Colette and Lloyd got lost," I explained vaguely, deciding not to go into gory detail. What she didn't know couldn't hurt her.

"Oh dear…" she muttered, just as the front door flew open again. Presea walked slowly into the kitchen, followed by a very defeated looking Genis.

"How was your first day of school?" Raine asked, sensing the mood but trying to lighten it anyway.

"It was…" Presea began.

"I want a name change," Genis said.

Raine and I looked at each other in confusion.

"A what?" I asked.

"A name change!" Genis repeated, his voice shaking. He turned and ran upstairs.

"Presea?" Raine asked.

"The boys in our school were…" she began, but the front door was flung open yet again. This time, Zelos came bounding in, whooping and waving a piece of paper.

"I got a job!" he called happily, running over to me and giving me a big hug.

"GET OFF ME!" I yelled, pushing him away. I hoped my face wasn't turning red…

"Let me see," Raine reached out and snatched away his paper. She read it carefully and looked up with raised eyebrows.

"You're working in a hospital?" she asked slowly.

"Yep!" Zelos grinned widely.

"But you don't have any medical degrees or anything!" she protested.

"I have fake ones," he said, "Think of all the operations…and all the patients…all the _female _patients…"

"You're never going to change, are you?" I demanded.

"Nope!" he bounded up the stairs. In all that, Presea had managed to slip away, so Raine and I were back where we started.

"I'm going to go see Genis," Raine sighed, "And see what all that was about…" she climbed upstairs. I sank into a chair, resting my elbows on some ads on the table. Boredly, I picked up the first one.

"Driving Lessons" it read "Mr. Reed will teach teens to transport themselves! Must be at least 15 to begin. If interested…" then it listed ways to contact him. There was a picture of a girl and a guy in one of those car things, grinning widely.

Hmm…

I snatched up the ad and headed upstairs.

&&

Oh noes! Sheena learning to drive, and Zelos the nurse…what more could go wrong? Hehehe…you'd be surprised! Remember to review! Until next time…


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